@article {2470,
	title = {Carbonization, differential preservation, and sampling biases in domestication studies: An erect knotweed ( Polygonum erectum  L.) case study},
	journal = {Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports},
	volume = {13},
	year = {2017},
	month = {Jan-06-2017},
	pages = {303 - 311},
	abstract = {Population morphometrics can be employed to explore the process of domestication, but only after accounting for biases introduced by taphonomic processes and sampling. For every cultivated plant, the challenges associated with carbonization, differential preservation, and sampling bias are different, as are the morphological characteristics of interest in domestication studies. This case study establishes correction factors and sampling parameters for assessing morphological indicators of domestication in erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum L.), an annual plant that was cultivated by Indigenous people in Eastern North America for about 2500 years. Documenting the unique domestication syndrome of erect knotweed creates three different sets of taphonomic and sampling problems that need to be addressed through experimentation and modeling: 1) Assess the morphometric effects of carbonization; 2) assess the effects of differential preservation; and 3) assess the effects of sampling error. The results of this study can be used by other analysts to identify domesticated assemblages of erect knotweed. These analyses also have implications for studies of plant domestication from the morphology of archaeological assemblages in general, especially when nominal variables are used to differentiate wild from domesticated populations (for example, the presence/absence of an abscission scar in cereals or the seed coat texture of chenopods).},
	issn = {2352409X},
	doi = {10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.04.001},
	url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352409X16308550http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2352409X16308550?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2352409X16308550?httpAccept=text/plain},
	author = {Mueller, Natalie G.}
}
